Star Dreams
by Donut Queen
Summary: Forced into a beauty pageant tryouts on the threat of losing her Gameslave forever, Gaz knows she isn't pageant material. But she never expected to win. Currently On Hold


**Star Dreams**

**Disclaimer: I NO OWN. D: Zim is (c) Jhonen Vasquez.**

Gaz is sent to participate in a beauty pageant against her will. However, while torturing herself away from Bloaty's pizza and Vampire Piggy Hunter, she begins to discover a whole new realm of life, one of eating disorders and strange social habits. In spite of Dib's help, it's getting harder and harder to keep her from falling into that unusual, yet alluring world.

Rated: T

Genre: Drama

As a quick note, my pagebreaks are emoticons. Weird, yes. But deal. And no, this story is not any kind of romance story. It's about Gaz, that's it.

**Gaz **stared blankly into her door mirror, eyeing herself blankly. Her short, purple hairfar too dark to be called simple violet framed her face at an angle, making the girl appear mysterious and rather horrendous, depending upon her mood. Her face was pale, eyes squinted and marred with dark eyeliner and mascara to block out her irises and the sun's hideous rays. Her dark skirt and shirt were made darker in comparison to the yellow-white skull necklace dangling over her chest, and her gray undershirt and red-purple leggings were dark as well. She was still, unfortunately, somewhat short.

"...Gaz?"

Gaz said nothing, but opened her door, peering up at her brother emotionlessly. She wasn't in the mood to talk or insult him. Everything inside her was dead. Her Gameslave was gone, her pizza was gone, and all for what?

For something her father had suggested, brought upon - no - forced upon her. For something Gaz would never want, never have, never think of. He'd put her up to a beauty pageant.

But Gaz wasn't always this way. At least, she wasn't always this _bad_. She'd been normal as far as she had been concerned. But then things had to happen.

Gaz grimaced and stepped out beside her brother. "Let's go." Her voice wasn't filled with anger. It was filled with defeat. In her room, on her bed, halfway sticking out from under her pillow, was an open notebook.

_It all happened about a week ago. I thought it was family night at Bloaty's. We hadn't had one in.. months. I know we hardly ever have them anyway, but it was nice to spend time with Dad and eat pizza. But then _she _had to start staring. She was looking right at us - some old crusty woman with red hair tied back in a bun. She looked like a younger, nicer version of Ms. Bitters. At first, I tried to ignore her, but her staring was grating on my nerves - I swear she was burning holes in the side of my head. About halfway through the pizza, the woman very slowly began moving towards us. I knew only because I have eyes in the back of my head. And I could hear her. Dib, being the paranoid idiot that he is, kept shifting back and forth. I know he knew she was there. Finally the wench came over and introduced herself, and then she started talking about some modeling agency, and about how she was offering a scholarship to the winner. And she said she wanted me to enter. I gave her my most evil glare, but even that failed to phase her. And dad was all for it. Then he asked what I thought. I told him no, straight up. And then he said it was best for me to enter, and that witch gave him some papers to look at and told him to call sometime that night if they'd decided. And so, I thought, 'He's bound to forget.' But that night he dropped everything and called that lady, and told me straight up that I was going to have an opportunity. And then, my pizza was gone. No more pizza for Gaz. ): And then, my Gameslave was gone. I nearly killed Dib, but when I was strangling him dad caught me and told me after I went through with this model thing I could get them back. So for a week I stayed in my room and drew. At least I could get out of skool. And... I'm going to go. And ponder why the hell that lady wanted me in some model pageant thing. I'm not built like a model - I do have some fat there. You just can't see it under my shirt. Later. -Gaz_

Gaz stared up at the recreation center sign. It was going to be one of those days, she decided as she pondered what those black plate letters said. It was one of those white signs with the squares you can replace with different letters, like you'd find on a gas station or at a grocery store. It read, 'Miss Dewm Pageant tryouts, May 4th, at eight AM".

Great. Just great.

She'd chosen to go alone, knowing that if she just got through this little tryout and lost, she could go home, get her pizza and Gameslave 2, and be happy again. And yes, it was possible for Gaz to be happy. She just didn't show it outwardly.

And then Gaz saw _her_. Mrs. Delapaphobe.. or whatever her name was. The woman locked eyes with her and casually approached, smiling brightly. Gaz wanted to spill her guts on the sidewalk right there.

"Are you ready?"

"No."

The woman shrugged. "You will be." She smiled. "I've got a dress I want you to try on. This is no rehearsal - you just walk out there and let them look at you, okay?" She led Gaz through a maze of people and into the girls' bathroom. On the inside of one stall was a dark violet dress. She shooed Gaz into the stall. "Now put it on and tell me how it fits."

Grudgingly, Gaz shut the door behind her and locked it, then contemplated tearing the dress up. But then no pizza, no Vampire Piggy Hunter. She took her clothes off and slowly stepped into the rather uncomfortable dress. She somehow managed to zip it up in the back by herself, and then, "Ready." Her voice was full of malice. Just because she had to do this didn't mean she had to like it.

The door opened. Mrs. Whatserface smiled brightly. "Good, it fits. Look in the mirror."

So Gaz stared at her reflection and curled her lip up in disgust. It was a nice dress, but it wasn't her. The dress didn't say 'Gaz'. It was a dark purple, kind of indigo-ish, and was strapless, and made her waist look tiny. It was also long, and covered her ankles and dragged the floor only slightly.

"Lovely," said the ugly lady, smiling brightly. "Here - these shoes should go nicely." They were simple slip ons, with a small heel. Gaz slipped them on, still wearing those marroon-ish stockings. "Now," she said, "When you walk out onto the stage, just smile and nod, and make sure you look as good as you can."

Gaz knew she was going to lose. What was the point? She couldn't wait to get home. Pizza surely awaited. She seemed almost joyful now.

---

And it was time. Gaz stood before the curtain as the announcer called her first name - her last name remained a mystery - and Gaz stepped out onto the stage. She couldn't let herself smile, but there was a look about her face that suggested she was in a good mood, and she kept her eyes wide open, even though it was bright. It wasn't so bad - she could only see lights beyond the stage - the audience was invisible to her. Pizza was on her brain, and as she stepped off the stage, she sighed with relief and disappeared behind the curtain.

After the other girls had finished, Gaz took notice of them. All of them were like her, average girls - almost all of them very pretty for their age, and all of them wore makeup. Eagerly, Gaz awaited their call for the winners. She sat down on a chair, content with herself, eyes closed now as she imagined more levels that she had meant to beat as they announced the names. She could just hear them in the distance, mentioning the winners who would go on. There had to be a hundred girls, but only ten were going. She smiled to herself, hardly even hearing the words.

"..Gaz..."

Her eyes snapped open.

OO

Righty-diddly-doo! That's it for chapter one. I wanted to get this done so the rest would be easier to write. Reviews motivate me and keep me from abstaining from the glory that is DONUTS. Won't you be kind? ;-; LURVE, the Donut Queen.


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